Irina At The Barnyard
by Around.the.Rainbow
Summary: The farmer's granddaughter has to spend her summer vacation at his farm. How boring for her. Until she goes into the barn one day, her summer might not be as bad as she thought it would be.
1. Chapter 1

**One**

Irina couldn't believe it. Her whole summer was about to be wasted! Staying with her grandfather on his _farm _for her three months of precious summertime. All because of what? Being caught skipping school a few times. She kept a scowl plastered on her face since they left. It wasn't leaving anytime soon. Her parents can think they're doing her a favor all they want, but she knew they were just getting on her nerves. They chattered endlessly about how nice it would be to spend time with her granddad and learn about all the animals, and actually do some work. Whatever! She already knew she was going to play sick all summer. She stared out the window at the countryside. They were almost there, and dismay filled her every second.

* * *

Duke happily ran into the barn, his tail fiercely wagging.

"Hey, guys!" He called once inside, "Irina's coming for the summer!"

"Who?" Asked Otis, looking over at Duke.

"Irina. The farmer's granddaughter. It's been years since I saw her. She was about four back then. Now she's seventeen. I overheard the conversation the farmer had on the phone!"

"Another human here!?" Asked Abbey, shock in her voice, "How can we have fun with another human around us?"

"And for the whole summer," added Otis. "How could you be so happy?"

"She won't notice us. She's a teenager. She'll probably just stay inside and listen to music or something."

"How do you know?" Said Pip, who was on Otis's shoulder.

"I heard the farmer say she could hang out around the house. I highly doubt a teenage girl will want to hang out in the barn."

The dog looked around at all of his friends in the barn. Their faces were all still skeptical. In a way, he didn't care what they thought. They just didn't bond with humans the same way a dog did.

"She should be here any minute," he said, "I'm going to go wait outside."

"You keep her away from here!" Otis called.

Duke didn't care. He walked on all fours as he came out of the barn. They didn't need to be excited. He'd live just fine with him being happy over her arrival. The farmer walked over to him.

"Hey, Duke. Have I told you the good news?"

He barked happily in response.

"That's right! Irina's coming for her vacation. It'll be so good to see her again." He got on one knee to pet Duke, then said, "I have a big job for you. You need to keep an eye on her. Can you do that, boy?"

With affection in his eyes, he licked the farmer's hand. Of course he would. The farmer smiled. Just then, a car pulled up.

"Hey, dad," said a middle aged woman, getting out of the driver's seat. That wasn't her.

Then a girl with shoulder length light brown hair and a purple streak going down it came out of the car. Definitely her. Duke happily pranced over as the farmer and Irina's mother hugged. He nudged the young girl's leg, hoping she'd remember him.

"Hey," she said, a playful lilt in her voice, "Duke, is that you? Wow, you grew up, huh?" She bent down and scratched his ears. Oh man, did he like that. Then she quickly got up, "Hey, Gramps," she said, hugging him.

Her mother handed her two suitcases, and they all said their good-byes. Then she left, as they walked inside the house.

* * *

Irina followed her grandfather upstairs to where she put her bags in the upstairs bedroom. His house was the same way she remembered. From what she remembered anyway.

"I hear you've been skipping school," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, but I was only skipping boring classes."

"Your mother was the same."

"Really?" That was truly surprising.

"Oh yes." Then quickly changing the subject, "About your work around here." He pointed to the kitchen, "The dishes. I want you to clean them. Dust the inside of the house once a week, and keep your room tidy."

"That's it?" She was feeling a little shocked. Honestly she expecting more like, up at the crack of dawn to the cows and collect the chicken eggs. But she wouldn't push her luck.

"Yup. And Duke here is going to watch you. Now what kind of food do you like?"

"Oh, well, I'm a vegetarian these days, so yeah. Salads are my thing."

"Really?" He smiled wide, and walked into the kitchen with her, "Have you ever thought of going vegan?"

"I have, but it seems so hard."

Maybe this summer wouldn't be a total waste.

* * *

_**A/N: **So, I really wanted to do this for fun and see how this initial chapter turned out before posting more. I haven't followed this shoe much, so if anything's wrong just let me know. I was inspired to do this while watching an episode with my brother. Haha._


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: _**_Sorry for taking so long to post a new chapter, guys. Without my laptop working, and having to share the home computer it's kind of a pain. But hopefully with school coming, and my younger siblings not home so much, I'll be able to be more frequent! Enjoy!_

* * *

**Two**

Irina sat at the table staring at the clock. She had finished the dishes, and wasn't quite sure what to do. Nothing was on T.V. and there was no internet along with no reception on her cell phone. To make matters worse, it was only eleven in the morning. Maybe she should go back to bed? But she wasn't tired, and her grandfather already made it clear she could sleep in, and only got out of bed an hour ago. She walked over to the window and looked out. Then it came to her. She could go out and explore the farm. There had to be something out there a city girl like her hadn't seen up close.

As fast a possible, she ran up to her room (which was actually the guest room) and changed into her oldest, and most ripped up pair of jeans, along with an old shirt that was two sizes too big and given to her by her father. Originally, she packed these clothes because she envisioned herself working, and had no desire to get her nice clothes all dirty, and full of God-knows-what; but in her mind, these would work well for exploring too. Going out to explore wasn't really her thing, unless it meant to find a place to hang out at where no one would bother her.

She walked outside, and as loud as she could called out, "Duke! Duke! Come here, boy!"

Honestly, she didn't know how well that would work. Did he even know what "come" meant? Would he even hear her? She walked off the porch, and more toward the field.

Putting her hands around her mouth she screamed, "Duke! Come here!"

She heard a bark from behind her, and turned to see Duke, sprinting toward her. Tail wagging he stopped in front of her, and barked. She smiled and then said:

"Hello. Wanna explore? There's nothing on the tube."

Duke barked again, and hopped toward where he came from, then took a few steps that way.

"Sure. Why not start there?"

Irina walked behind the dog, taking in all of the scenery. If there weren't trees, there was lots of grass and pens holding all kinds of animals. As they walked, she stopped at one pen that held sheep. Lots of sheep. They were just grazing or lazing about. She couldn't help but giggle some. They were actually quite cute. Near the edge of the fence sat a lamb. With the wonder of a child, she walked up to the pen, got on her knees and gently pet the lamb. He was very soft.

She'd feel embarrassed if someone from school caught her acting like a little girl, but she never saw animals like this. Only squirrels, birds, and cockroaches - if they even counted as animals. A breeze hit her back. She instantly stiffened. It was a very small one, but it felt like someone ran behind her. Slowly she turned to see Duke's tail behind a thick tree. Ever so quietly, she walked over to the tree then…jumped in front of it. Puzzled, all she saw was a white cow with black on it, in front of Duke. That tree surely wasn't thick enough to hide a whole cow behind on all fours was it?

She walked to the other side of the tree and looked. Sure enough, she saw half of the cow and half of Duke. She rubbed her eyes. What just happened? Maybe she was just tired and saw things that first time. Yeah, that made sense…for the time being. Slowly, she walked back to the other side of the tree. The cow just looked at her. Nervously, she held up her hand, and lightly pat his nose. Looking at it, she smiled and gently rubbed.

"You're quite nice, aren't you?"

She then giggled awkwardly, not sure what to do. Then she looked at Duke and said:

"Let's go now. I'm sure he's fine out here…"

She took a few steps back, and then turned and ran in the other direction. That was an interesting experience, but she wasn't going to let it stop her from exploring. Or she hoped it wouldn't…as long as there weren't more weird things like that happening.

* * *

Duke growled at Otis. It surprised him…he actually growled at his friend.

"What was that?" he fiercely whispered as Irina ran off.

"What was what?" Otis innocently asked.

He took a breath, "Why were you sneaking up on us?"

"She was getting close to the barn. What was I supposed to do? Let you let her walk right on in while we're walking around in there?"

He couldn't believe what Otis was thinking! That he'd let her in there!

"I wasn't going to let her go in! And if I was, I'd tell you guys!"

Otis just glared at him.

With his eyes softening, Duke said, "Don't you believe me, Otis? I'd never do such a thing to you guys…"

"You seem like you like her so much. What happened earlier today? You ditched our poker game to go aimlessly walk around with her! When was the last time you just walked around with one of us?"

Duke thought for a moment, then said, "Otis…is this jealously?"

"No! No, it's not! It's hurt!"

"Otis! Clam down," said Abby, running toward them from the barn. "Duke has it under control," she quickly turned to Duke, "you know what you're doing, right, Duke?"

"Of course," Duke said quickly, "I bond easily with people."

"You see, Otis. Duke wouldn't do anything to betray us," then she gave a glance toward Duke.

"Nothing at all," he said.

He looked at Otis as he calmed himself. The cow took a few deep breaths. Duke never thought anyone would react this way, especially Otis.

"Duke!" Called Irina's voice, "Where are you, boy!?"

He looked over to Otis and Abby.

"Just go…" Otis said.

"Fine. But we'll talk later, I promise." Duke said, as he ran off on all fours.

As he ran toward Irina's voice, he hoped it didn't hurt Otis too much that he left them for a second time that day. He barked once she was in sight. Her smile was wide as she opened her arms to catch him running.

While rubbing his head she said, "You know, I thought this summer was going to suck, but two days in, and I'm," she paused for a minute, then continued, "kind of happy. Being with you, and no parents or siblings to bother me. Yeah," then she said a little lower, "I just wish there was internet here so I could check my PlaceBox page." Then she said louder, "Yup, kind of having a good time."


End file.
